For a serious injury or serious incident to be investigated by the Department, it has to be considered as a high potential serious event that could have caused a fatality or resulted in a serious outcome. The findings of these investigations were analysed to identify the:

occupation of the person and the activity, specific task and location of the incident

root cause of the incident and the precautions or preventative measures that had the potential to avert the incident

details of the hazard

equipment or infrastructure involved.

This information should be used by employers and workers to assist in the development of safe work practices on mining operations. All responsible persons should carefully evaluate their safety systems and risk management processes to ensure that hazards with the potential to cause serious injuries or outcomes are highlighted in training and supervision documents. Precautions and critical controls should then be built into the systems of work. This can be used in conjunction with the fatalities hazard register.

For more information on how to use the hazard register please refer to How to navigate and use the hazard registers – guide.